Graeco-Roman Influences in Irish Visual and Material Culture

This conference takes inspiration from recent Danish research on the cultural significance of classical influences in visual and material culture and applies a similar analysis to Irish heritage. The valuable conversation comparing Ireland and Denmark throws new light on how small Northern European nations, which were never colonized by Rome, nevertheless negotiate the construction of national identity through templates from classical culture. In the case of Ireland, this conference will show how Irish identity, as sociologically and politically distinct from British identity, has been expressed through visual and material culture from the medieval period to the present day. The results will be published in an open access special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Classics Ireland.